The appraiser must identify physical deficiencies that could affect the safety, soundness, or structural integrity of the property as part of his or her description of the physical condition of the property.

What digging I've done has been in valuing professional services practices (same issue: owner does the "labor", has client loyalty, etc.) as well as medical practices (patients loyal to a doctor more than a physical address).  

assuming all financial factors are the same, including number of units and physical condition, would you prefer a rental on a busy or quite street?

If u do not plan to be at the hearing physically, u also need to notarize the "Affidavit of Evidence to the ARB" form, which the website also fills out automatically for you, and send together with the protest form.

So I get my list of addresses from my title company & in that list it has the owners name & their physical address along with the subject property I'm interested in.  

But I'm trying to see how this will work without someone physically verifying that:There is actually a house at the site and not a burned out hullRepairs are not unusually high.I can see the algorithm gurus in silicon valley being pretty good with standard homes but it's the outliers that could kill them. 

Hi everyone, My name is Jim and I’m just dipping my toe in to real estate investing here in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.I was an electrician for 15+ years, a small business owner (a restaurant/bar), and spent a couple years doing the construction and repairs on houses for a real estate investor on the houses he was flipping.I was involved in a rental property that my ex-girlfriend owned (one I completely remodeled for her) and have watched as my father has profited off of a successful rental property and have always wondered why he doesn’t have more.I’m ready to move to the other side of these projects and become the investor instead of just doing all the physical work.

If you're handy, which I'm not particularly, and are willing to do some work yourself then you'd probably be more inclined to purchase a property with physical issues.

I'm going to assume you want income rather than hanging about with negative cash-flow properties for appreciation potential.Class D properties offer the best cashflow but they simply don't suit the  lifestyle and aptitudes of most investors who don't want to deal with constant drama, theft,  and repairs and collecting rent checks physically, on some fraction of your properties that pay accompanied by armed security guards.  

Every bit helps and using a qualified individual that understand the technical and the physical and can also sustain the financial burden is a triple win!